I fear being alone more than anything else. So why do I do this? Why do I push away the people I love? What is so very wrong with me?
— Chapter 18

I must believe enough for all of us. I must put up my mask again, and be the lightning girl they need. Mare can wait.
Dimly, I wonder if I’ll ever get the chance to be Mare again.
— Chapter 23

My reading mantra should be something along the lines of “Do not turn into a blubbering mess in public”... maybe I should choose different books for that. But then again, why would I want to read books that don’t make me feel? Therefore, blubbering mess it is!
This is the second book in this series and basically picks up where the cliffhanger from the first book left us. And from there on it becomes a big chase against just about everything and everyone. I can’t say much about what is going on without giving anything away and I think this book needs to be experienced with as little previous knowledge as possible. Otherwise you won’t be clutching at your armrest on the train only to realise that your stuffy seat neighbour actually had his arm resting there ... oops. (Served him right though, he was hogging the thing!) I’m not quite sure where my loyalties lie, I don’t even know if I’d support our main character. I certainly understand where she is coming from and I think there are worse options, but I’m not going to call her a heroine anytime soon. Neither am I going to do that for any of the other characters though. In this world it seems like you can only choose the path of least traumatic assaults on your conscience. No one is actually born a monster, but anyone can become monstrous in their choices and actions ... or their inaction. And I think this story is also great in making you think about the kind of monster someone is willing to become when faced with seemingly impossible choices.

The English language has this saying of being caught between a rock and a hard place. Have you been in such a situation and how did you decide between the two options? Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments.

“Vanity is a factor, but it is more a question of control. It is easier to trick others into perceiving you as beautiful if you can convince yourself you are beautiful. But mirrors have an uncanny way of telling the truth.”
— Chapter 19

“It will, I promise. Listen carefully, as this may be something of a shock to you.”
“A shock? You mean all that was just the precursor?”
— Chapter 25

For various reasons I feel like I’m haunted by fairy tales this past week ...time to dig out the trusted version with cyborgs and androids to make sense of the situation and save the world. This amazing series has recently been completed with the publication of the short story collection and if you haven’t been living beyond the moon (trust me on this, you wouldn’t want to live on the moon in this case), you have probably heard about the serie’s overall perfection. But in case you were looking for another nudge to pick it up or maybe re-read, let me assure you that you’re not making a mistake in opening the first page of this series. You don’t have to be a fairy tale buff to appreciate the series, but you can find some hidden gems in names and story arcs if you’re looking for them. And actually a lot of cultural observation when it comes to accepting and living together with people who seem other to us.

Do you have a favourite retelling of a fairy tale? Let me know in the comments along with your teaser!

Every time a solution was offered, his dad came up with another justification. He was just trying to find a shortcut to the end of the grief. I guess we’ve all been guilty of that at some point.
— Chapter 6

As perfect as that night turned out, that second kiss was still the worst, most desperate one we ever had. Up until the kiss I stole at the bonfire last week.
— Chapter 10

Isn’t that cover beautiful? I could totally see these cut outs as little pretty postcards decoratively standing around. Or maybe in frames on the wall ... Enough with the cover love, but I needed to get that off my chest first before continuing on to the content: It’s an entertaining and well-written contemporary YA romance with teen angst, family issues, friend and image problems, and second chances. Depending on my mood there is maybe a little bit too much of miscommunication and a little too slow development for the main character. Or something like that, because overall the writing itself is very on point and I enjoyed reading about Harper and especially Declan.
I would have wished for the story arc of the family thrown into a tailspin by the mother’s diagnosis. And maybe not so much dwelling on the past and mistakes made without moving on or trying to learn from or rectify them. If you’re old enough to drive and think you’re old enough to drink, then you’re certainly old enough to have an adult conversation without taking away the other person’s right to make an informed decision. And possibly that’s also one of the big take aways from this story ... apart from the obvious that sometimes second chances are well worth taking.

Now excuse me, I need to hop to the next art supply store and get some coloured construction paper ... and maybe acquire some drawing skills. Share cover beauties and teasers in the comments.

It had taken only that morning almost a year before to shift the way I viewed the world, to see the danger we lived with daily. I was not yet thirteen and still thought life consisted of cricket and songs.
— Chapter 2

It lifted my spirits above the crowd of angry men shouting for my death to learn of a girl fighting for girls everywhere to have an education and to be treated justly. I imagined she was also meaning me.
— Chapter 25

I didn’t go easy on myself this week regarding my book choice and in the end out of two possibly controversial books I chose the political cultural one rather than the social cultural one. Because I think it’s easier to talk about? Which in itself is quite a double meaning as that is exactly the core problem the main character faces in this book in a way: the freedom of speech, but more so the freedom of religion. This book deeply moved me and made me think and made me angry and made feel powerless. All those who should read this book and feel the same way are never going to read it and those who read it and feel like I did will most likely not have any possibility to initiate any real change.
The place of our birth and our upbringing is such a random lottery and if you’re reading this, chances are that you are lucky to live in a place where you don’t have to fear that speaking your mind will land you in prison or that not being a member of the dominant religion could secure you a place on death row. Double that if you’re female.
The case presented in this book is fictional, but it is written so well that at times I forgot. And when I remembered I had no difficulty imagining that this does happen in real life. Maybe not exactly like this but also not completely different. And in those moments I am so grateful for my fate, which was handed to me through no doing of my own, just by being born in a certain place at a certain time with a certain set of chromosomes. Yes, it is not all peachy rosy happy here either, but it can be so terribly and unfairly worse due to no other cause than a combination of geographical and genetic factors.

It’s not often that I read issue books of any kind mostly because I want my reading to be firmly settled in a comfortable fictional space and I don’t want the real world to invade that. Perhaps that’s escapist and a little cowardly of me, but when I read such a title I keep them with me quite a while and maybe that makes up for it a little. Let me know your thoughts and preferences if you like along with your teasers in the comments.